KANSAS CITY – For the first time since Jan. 8, 1989, the Cincinnati Bengals can utter two words unfamiliar to more than a generation of their fans.
Super. Bowl.
Say that again. See how it rolls off the tongue so smoothly and triumphant
Super. Bowl.
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At this moment, no phrase in our little Republic sounds better. None is more loaded with joy and possibility and passion. Within those two words are lifetimes of loyalty and futility and hopefulness and emptiness and finally, the sort of emotional rescue that only sufferers can know.
Super. Bowl.
Do you believe it?
I mean, you do believe. You wouldn’t have hung around for the past 33 years if you didn’t. But right now, at this moment -- Jan. 30, 2022, 6:18 p.m. -- do you believe it?
The Bengals were never more beloved in our town than they were at 3:05 p.m. Sunday. Until, of course, 6:18 p.m. Sunday. That’s when Evan McPherson slammed home a 31-yard field goal into a sea of red Kansas City Chiefs jerseys in the stands at Arrowhead Stadium, ensuring that the fantasy season has one more game.
Bengals 27, Chiefs 24. Overtime. The only thing more apparent than the decisive field goal was the sweet sound that accompanied it. "WhoDey!" chants resonated, authored by party-crashing Bengals fans owed this sort of moment for as long as they can remember. To KC fans, it sounded like a dirge.
You wouldn’t have predicted the outcome a few hours before it happened. Unless you’d watched this team all season, especially later in the year. It was nothing if not a magic carpet ride.
"We were made for this moment," Vonn Bell said. If you don’t believe that by now, you haven’t been paying attention.
Probably, the rest of the country wrote off the Bengals when the Chiefs went up 21-3 with five minutes left in the first half. Nice run, Bengals, you plucky devils. Maybe next year.
You knew better.
The Chiefs, gracious hosts, got the Bengals started in the last minute of the first half. Starting from his 18, quarterback Patrick Mahomes took KC to Cincinnati’s 1-yard line in 52 seconds. The Chiefs resisted attempting a chip-shot field goal from there; Mahomes threw incomplete. Five seconds left.
The millions watching assumed then that with five seconds before halftime, the Chiefs would take the gimme three. Why they didn’t is open to speculation. Maybe Andy Reid, his team ahead 21-10, assumed his offense was good enough to score on demand. After a half in which the Chiefs rolled up 292 yards and scored touchdowns on their first three possessions, Reid could be excused for holding that opinion.
Mahomes threw in the left flat to Tyreek Hill, who had no chance. Bengals corner Eli Apple took down Hill as soon as he caught the ball. No gain. Half over.
That turned the game.
What transpired in the next two hours remains a heart-clutching blur. The Cliff’s Notes:
Mahomes was horrible for most of the half, and overtime. Of his first nine throws, six were incomplete and one was intercepted.
Zac Taylor opened up the offense after a curiously conservative first half. Before halftime, Taylor chose not to attack. He preferred to work on the horizontal passing game, which featured a heavy dose of Joe Mixon, at the expense of going for it downfield. The effect was to neutralize his own quarterback.
The Bengals' second-half rally was fueled by the defense, but it couldn’t have happened without Joe Burrow’s Houdini acts. Twice on one fourth-quarter drive, Burrow turned sure sacks into positive yards. Forever poised – and making Mahomes look skittish by comparison – Burrow brought the Bengals back from the near-dead.
McPherson gave the Bengals a 24-21 lead on a 52-yard field goal with 6:04 to go. At that point, you could flip a coin to decide the winner. But again, the defense came up stout.
Mahomes delivered in the clutch, driving KC to a first down at the Bengals 5, with 1:26 left. Cincinnati was running on empty. "Stretched thin," Taylor said. At least until Sam Hubbard sacked Mahomes on 2nd down. And sacked him again on 3rd. There would be no game-winning TD for the Chiefs, just a game-tying field goal.
In overtime, Vonn Bell then intercepted Mahomes on 3rd-and-10, to give the Bengals the ball at the Cincinnati 45. It was all but over by then.
"We’re going to the Super Bowl. It sounds crazy to say that," said Hubbard, who knows better than most how crazy it really is. "We’ve got one more to get it all."
Thirty-three years is a long time to endure anything, even something as vague and fleeting as seeking fulfillment from following sports teams. That’s a discussion for someone else, in some other town.
Not here. The Bengals are going to the Super Bowl. Really.
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